Gulbene – Alūksne railway line
| Gulbene – Alūksne | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 End of the narrow-gauge line in Alūksne
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 Route
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| Route number : | 32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 197 km in the past, 33 km today | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top speed: | 25 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Gulbene – Alūksne railway is a narrow-gauge railway in Latvia, which connects the Livonian district towns of Gulbene and Alūksne with a gauge of 750 mm .
Route
The 33 km long route begins at Gulbene Central Station and leads to Alūksne in the north on a single track. This line is the remainder of the section that went into operation in 1903, formerly from Pļaviņas (then Stukmaņi , German: Stockmannshof ), today via Valka to Mõisaküla .
Within the Gulbene train station, the narrow-gauge railway track crosses or is combined with the broad-gauge track .
After the journey leads over manually set points, after leaving the station it goes on its own track towards the northeast. The route leads past wide meadows and fields, which alternate with swampy, originally left forests, “down” to the next train station in Stāmeriena . From there the train travels through damp and swampy forest areas “up” to Kalniena . There is a siding here. The route then continues in a north-northeast direction via Umernieki to the terminus in the south of the city of Alūksne.
The railway line is a total of 10 km shorter than the corresponding road connection. However, the journey from Gulbene to Alūksne takes 90 minutes. In the return direction, the train only needs 85 minutes, as it goes "downhill". This is somewhat faster than the timetable from 1924, when the train still needed 110 minutes for this route. The line speed is continuously limited to 25 km / h.
SIA "Gulbenes – Alūksnes bānītis"
The SIA "Gulbenes-Alūksnes bānītis" is a company incorporated on 3 January 2002 company with the participation of Latvian Railway , the cities Gulbene and Alūksne, the municipality Stameriena and other individuals for the operation of the last remaining narrow gauge railway in Latvia .
The name of the railway company is used as the name for the narrow-gauge railway. The Latvian name "Bānītis" was borrowed from the German word "Bahn" and given the Latvian diminutive. So it roughly corresponds to the Swabian name "Bähnle". The remaining line of the narrow-gauge railway now in operation was classified as Latvia's National Cultural Heritage in 1998 .
The preservation, restoration and public relations work of the last remaining narrow-gauge railway in Latvia is supported by the European Union “Culture 2000” program.
The employees restore old narrow-gauge cars and locomotives that are used at exhibitions or for the museum trains. The route network and the historic railway systems are also maintained and preserved as cultural heritage.
Regular operations were severely restricted on February 1, 2010. The train runs two pairs of trains a day with diesel operation between Gulbene and Alūksne. The first pair of trains is transported by steam locomotive on special days. There are also special trips and events for rail enthusiasts.
Since there are both narrow and broad gauge systems in Gulbene, these are also maintained. One of the last remaining roundhouse in Latvia with the associated turntable is open at railway festivals.
The company is a member of the European Federation of Museum and Tourist Railways - FEDECRAIL .
history
Track construction
With the beginning of the 1890s, the plan to build a railway line as a narrow gauge rail link (750 mm) in Livonia from the south along the Dvina / Daugava (lett. Stukmaņi, now located Stockmannshof Pļaviņas ) about Old Swan Castle and Marienburg to the northern city Walk developed .
The Livonian Railways Company was established in Riga for the construction of the line . The main partner was the Continentale Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebs-Gesellschaft from Berlin. Construction of the line began on March 15, 1899, by the Livonian Railway Company. From July 1903, scheduled traffic was possible on the entire route. On August 15, 1903, the entire railway line was officially put into operation.
During the First World War , the Stuckmannshof – Alt-Schwanenburg section was converted by the Russian army to a track width of 1524 mm .
use
The most important cargo was wood, which was transported to the cellulose plant in Pärnu . The transport of goods took the first place. Passenger transport was already taking place according to the timetable, but they had to be subordinate to the interests and needs of freight transport.
The volume of traffic was initially very low: in 1904 102,688 people and 89,930 t of goods were transported. Two pairs of trains ran the entire route every day. A 25.6 km long forest railway was opened from Annahof, which brought increased traffic. Freight transports continued until 1914. Overall, however, the route turned out to be unprofitable for the operating company.
During the First World War it was mainly used for military purposes by the Russian army. The war and the struggle for the national independence of Latvia destroyed large parts of the remaining narrow-gauge line Alt-Schwanenburg-Marienhof-Walk.
After Latvia gained independence in 1918, the route became the property of the Latvian state. In 1919 the line was used by the Estonian army as a means of transporting troops in the war against Soviet Russia (1918–1920). At that time, Estonians fought together with the " Baltic regiments " made up of Baltic Germans along the border with Russia, including on Latvian territory.
During the Second World War , the Gulbene (formerly: Alt-Schwanenburg ) –Valka (formerly: Walk ) line was badly damaged. After the end of the war, when Latvia had already become one of the Soviet republics , a repair shop for narrow-gauge locomotives started operations in Gulbene. The Gulbene – Ape section was already open again at the end of 1945; After the merger of the railway companies of the three Baltic republics, the railway ran again from Gulbene to Valka in 1963.
In 1970 the Valka – Ape section was closed due to the increasing shift of transport to the road. 1973 the section Ape – Alūksne (formerly: Marienburg ) was closed. The railway systems were then dismantled. The remaining stretch from Gulbene to Alūksne was mainly used to transport coal for the Soviet army troops stationed in Alūksne , which probably guaranteed the survival of this section.
The narrow-gauge Gulbene – Alūksne line was recognized as a technical monument in 1984. On March 12, 1987, the passenger transport was stopped due to technical defects. This led to protests on the part of the city administrations and the societies for monument protection. At the end of 1987, passenger transport was resumed after new passenger coaches were purchased. In 1992 the transport of goods, which now takes place by road, was completely stopped. As the exclusive operation of the line for passenger traffic was uneconomical, the line was idle from 1992. Since January 3, 2002, the SIA "Gulbenes-Alūksnes bānītis" operator of the narrow-gauge line. Since then, the train has been used for passenger transport and for tourism purposes.
Vehicle fleet
At the end of 1900 and 1901 the Livonian Railway Company acquired 14 steam locomotives from Kolomna (Russia) with a pulling power of 3.6 t each . In 1906 the Livonian Railway Company already owned 25 passenger coaches and 150 freight wagons . In 1921, further tank locomotives were ordered from Orenstein & Koppel in Germany .
Two years later, in 1923, more Linke & Hofmann locomotives from Germany were added. In 1924 five locomotives were delivered from Russia. This delivery was still based on the Latvian-Russian peace treaty . After the Second World War, the locomotive and wagon fleet was makeshift repairs and the locomotives and wagons that had been distributed within the Soviet Union for war purposes were brought together again. The inventory of the narrow-gauge railway includes a snow plow with a wooden structure, the bogies of which are believed to date from the period between 1920 and 1930. This snow plow is pushed by a diesel locomotive in winter. The driver's cab of the snow plow is occupied by railway employees who pull the plow up in front of obstacles (e.g. switch levers) and then lower it again behind them.
In 1949, open freight cars were obtained from Weimar . In 1950 locomotives of the ГР series made by Lokomotivbau Karl Marx Babelsberg came onto the line as a reparation payment . The first diesel locomotive of the ТУ2 series could be used from 1958. To maintain passenger train operations, new passenger coaches and 1988 new locomotives from the Kambarka machine factory (Камбарский машиностроительный завод) (Russia) were acquired in 1987 . After the pioneer railway in Riga was closed, two locomotives of the type ТУ2 and passenger coaches from Polish production came to Gulbene in 1997, where they were stored.
On June 17, 2005, a tender locomotive of the type КЧ4-332 received from the Estonian Railway Museum for restoration was put into operation. This locomotive was manufactured by Škoda in Plzeň / Czechoslovakia . In 2006 the first birthday party for the locomotive named “Marisa” took place in Gulbene.
Since 2006 a trolley equipped with mudguards has been used for tourists .
Diesel locomotive ТУ2 with passenger car in Alūksne
"Marisa" steam locomotive in Gulbene
Narrow gauge freight wagons in Gulbene
Tank car before the restoration
Snow plow with a wooden structure
Train pulled into Gulbene from Alūksne
building
During the First World War, the connection from Gulbene to Pļaviņas was converted to broad gauge (1524 mm) in 1916 and the Ieriķi - Abrene railway line opened. As a result, Gulbene developed into an important transport hub in the region. Among other things, one of the three ring locomotive sheds with turntable that exist in Latvia is located here .
In 1926 the Gulben station building was built for the broad gauge based on plans by the architect Pēteris Feders (1868–1936). At that time, the narrow-gauge line continued from the old station towards Alūksne. It was not until 1939 that the track systems of the narrow-gauge railway were relocated and integrated into the tracks of the broad-gauge railway.
Since the entire station area in Gulbene was destroyed in 1944 by the Soviet Air Force as it advanced against the German Wehrmacht , the station building was burned to the ground. After 1945, drawings and material were found in the foundation wall, according to which the station could be rebuilt by German prisoners of war according to these old plans. It is now considered one of the most beautiful train station buildings in Latvia.
The other buildings, such as the railway depot, the roundhouse and the turntable, were rebuilt after 1945.
The railway stations on the Gulbene – Alūksne line, which were rebuilt after 1945, are stone structures, possibly with wooden paneling. The breakpoints each offer a wooden shelter with a bench.
At Umernieki station, which has existed since 1928 and has had a station building since 1938, the narrow-gauge railway stops across the street. Road traffic has to wait until the train has moved on. Pedestrians can get on and off the train from either side.
Alūksne station building
Interior view of the Gulben train station building
Typical wooden shelter for a breakpoint
Roundhouse in Gulbene
Turntable in Gulbene
literature
- Jörg Petzold: Livonian supply railways . In: The Museum Railway . No. 1 , 2015, ISSN 0936-4609 , p. 16 f .
Web links
- Website of the tourist railway , accessed on February 16, 2015 (also in English)
- Tīkla pārskats 2017–2018. In: ldz.lv. January 16, 2017, p. 5 (route number), 7 (gauge) , accessed on July 8, 2019 (Latvian).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kustības saraksts. In: banitis.lv. Retrieved June 30, 2018 (Latvian). | Līnija. In: banitis.lv. Retrieved June 30, 2018 (Latvian).
- ↑ Online version of a reprint. 1924, archived from the original on July 7, 2009 ; accessed on June 30, 2018 .
- ^ History. In: banitis.lv. Retrieved June 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Ritošais sastāvs. In: banitis.lv. Retrieved June 30, 2018 (Latvian).
- ↑ Elmārs Barkāns: Gulbenes - Alūksnes mazbānītis no rītiem vairs nebrauks. In: jauns.lv. kasjauns.lv, January 31, 2010, accessed June 30, 2018 (Latvian).
- ↑ Kustības saraksts. In: banitis.lv. Retrieved June 30, 2018 (Latvian).
- ↑ FEDECRAIL
